Author's Note

Another chapter because I am enjoying this too much.

Hope you guys enjoy!

Solace

“What’s that spot on the wall?”

The question, innocently posed by Spike the following morning, made Twilight raise her head from the book she had been reading. She looked to her number one assistant.

“What spot, Spike?”

“The one on the wall by the red room.”

She shut her book. “I don’t know. Let’s check it out.” She said.

Twilight and Spike made their way over to the infamous door. Twilight saw the small black spot there. Her brain immediately zig zagged around, trying to formulate answers. The castle walls were made of crystal, so they couldn’t get mold like other homes. But if it wasn’t mold, what was it? Remnants of a squashed fly? A dot made of permanent marker? Spike wouldn’t have put it there. Rainbow Dash maybe? No… If she were going to do something like that she wouldn’t have stopped at a dot. She would have made an entire piece of artwork. Twilight sighed.

“I don’t know what it is, Spike. Don’t worry about it for now, okay?” She asked.

“It’s cleaning day, Twilight. I’m supposed to worry about it.”

She smiled. “I know. But it’s okay.”

He nodded. “Anything else you want me to clean for now?”

“The library?"

“I already did that, Twilight.”

“Both of them?”

“Yes.” He said, patiently. Twilight had enough books to make two libraries, so the ones in her bedroom could certainly be termed another one.

“Then no, that’s all for now.” She said. “I’ll be in my reading room if you need me.”

“In your what?” Spike puzzled.

Twilight pointed to another door. “In there.”

“Oh.” Spike blinked. “Okay.” He said, before he scampered off.

Twilight smiled at the sight of him racing away before she could change her mind, and shook her head. Then, sighing, she went and made herself a cup of cinnamon tea, and then grabbed the book she had been reading and went to the reading room.

The room was quiet, and cozier compared to the other rooms in the castle. The floor and walls were the same as the rest of the castle, but that was about it. There were dark blue damask curtains made of velvet to block out the hot summer sun when needed. There was a small sofa there, with a table nearby for a drink or a book to rest upon. Opposite that, there was a large bookshelf filled with even more books. There were lanterns in this room instead of overhead fixtures like in the rest of the castle to give it a more ambient setting, and it made the light dance on the crystal walls with a gleam. A desk was opposite the windows, stocked with paper, quills, ink, and a chair to sit on if one wished to take notes, along with a cup filled with different colored highlighters. There was a small pad of sticky notes on the desk, and the two drawers on both sides were stacked with flashcards. The piece de resistance was a mahogany table, round and medium sized, to hold many books at once when one wanted to read many things.

It was a quiet place. The perfect place for Twilight to turn her books without pressure of a work frenzy. It was a place that she could be still and enjoy her books. Where she could enjoy the smell of old books, well worn and aged, cared for with love, and the new ones, fresh and ready to be opened. It was a little slice of paradise. Here, she didn’t have to be a princess. She could just be.

Twilight sipped her tea, turning the pages of her book in time with whatever reading rhythm she held. In the midst of Magical Menagerie: The History Of Enchanted Animals Twilight felt a small twinge in her head. It was painful, but merely momentary. Though it passed momentarily, it was enough to make her close her book. She had gotten those before. They were usually a precursor to intense headaches that only occurred when she read too much at once and did not give herself enough time to process it all, when she overworked herself, or when she did not get enough sleep. Normally, it was a combination of all three. This certainly might have been the case today. This was the third book she’d read today, and other than the short interlude of investigating the mysterious spot with Spike and making her tea, she hadn’t taken much of a break. Add that to not sleeping enough and staying up until two in the morning the evening before, and that was a recipe for a headache.

She leaned back, her eyes closing as she took a precious moment to stop, rest, and just be. She imagined a blackboard eraser going across her brain, erasing her worries, her troubles, her sense of overworking. There was nothing but a blank slate there, ready to be filled with anything. The endless potential never ceased to bring her joy.

A subtle pressure made her eyes open. She was still in the room, alone, but there had been some odd pressure, like something pressing ever so slightly against her body. She wasn’t too sure of what that might have been. She considered it a moment, before she simply dismissed it as her imagination.

Little did she know, it was not her imagination. It was real. The ever so subtle pressure was an assurance that she would be still, and remain that way. Other than her eyes opening, that had worked. Twilight suddenly felt the pain come back, and sighed at the intense headache, rubbing one of her temples. She really hoped it wouldn’t last. Mercifully, it only stayed a few minutes before departing. She leaned back in her chair, and sighed. Maybe it was just her imagination.

Unfortunately, her imagination was about to begin running wild without her consent. And the door to the red room in the castle, unbeknownst to it’s occupants, pulsated again, and the dot grew just a little larger.